Six Travel Trends that will shape our marketing

SIX TRAVEL TRENDS TO shape our marketing for 2014 and beyond

Six travel trends that are going to shape our marketing in 2014 beyond...

The influence of the ‘millenials’

The Millennials are those born since 2000.  These 18- to 30-year-olds of growing importance to the travel industry and have some key characteristics and will shape the future of travel propositions for the industry. Specifically, the millenials are more ethnically diverse, more interested in urban than resort destinations, more likely to travel to follow interests or activities and more likely to travel with friends in organized groups.

The continuing growth of the Silver market

The Silver market is estimated to comprise 1.3 billion to 1.6 billion people worldwide by 2015. Of crucial importance to this group is customer service. The senior group travels primarily for rest and relaxation on either short or longer stay trips and prefer quieter and less congested destinations. Not only is the senior market the world’s wealthiest group – it is also the most demanding and show very little tolerance to poor or average levels of customer service.


An increase in conspicuous leisure

The ubiquitous use of social media and with it the widespread sharing of photos with friends, families and colleagues – has fostered a trend in conspicuous leisure.  Experiences  will become a ‘social currency’ signalling social status through unique experiences rather than through consumer goods.  These experiences will most likely include owning a holiday home, having the freedom to work from home, taking holidays to exotic destinations and enjoying active experiences

The rise of ‘creative tourism’

Creative tourism is travel that provides an engaged and authentic experience and that can make a connection with those who live and work in the tourism destination.  The ‘creative’ tourist differs from a ‘cultural’ tourist in that he or she is active and interacts with the locals.


The strength of luxury travel

Luxury travel continues to be a robust segment of the travel industry and has remained recession-proof over the last five years as other sectors have struggled.  There are now literally millions of millionaires and the number of affluent households are projected to double between 2012 and 2020. Despite the growth of the Asian (and particularly the Chinese) market, it is still projected that U.S., Japanese and European travellers will dominate the luxury travel market until 2020

The emergence of  multi-generational travel

The older the original baby-boomers get, the more family travel they are doing with a lot of that travel planned around milestone events. The multi-generational market is about trading memories, with convenience and value.

Most destinations have struggled when it comes to providing services and amenities that appeal to six and 60 year-olds alike, but some cruise lines have already taken a leadership position in catering to the multigenerational travel market.

Thomas Cook - The First Tour Operator!

Thomas Cook, was was born  in Melbourne, South Derbyshire, on 22nd November, 1808 leaving school at the age of ten to work as a gardener's boy on Lord Melbourne's estate.

The First Signs of a Travel Career

Cook attended the local Methodist Sunday School and was described as "an earnest, active, devoted, young Christian". He soon became a teacher at the Sunday School and eventually was appointed as its superintendent. At seventeen Thomas joined the local Temperance Society and over the next few years spent his spare-time campaigning against the consumption of alcohol.

In 1827 Cook abandoned his apprenticeship to become an itinerant village missionary, on a salary of £36 a year.  His job was to spread the Word by preaching, distributing tracts, and setting up Sunday schools throughout the south midland counties.  Thus began his career in travel.

Cook married in 1833 and became an active member of the local Temperance Society making speeches and publishing pamphlets pointing out the dangers of alcohol consumption. He also arranged large group picnics where participants were, according to the Temperance Messenger, sustained with "biscuits, buns and ginger beer". In 1840 Cook decided to make a career out of his temperance beliefs and founded the Children's Temperance Magazine.

The First ‘Package’ Holiday

In 1841 Cook had the idea of arranging an eleven-mile rail excursion from Leicester to a Temperance Society meeting in Loughborough on the newly extended Midland Railway. Cook charged his customers one shilling and this included the cost of the rail ticket and the food on the journey. The venture was a great success and Cook decided to start his own business running rail excursions.

He described this as ‘the starting point of a career of labour and pleasure which has expanded into … a mission of goodwill and benevolence on a grand scale’

The First ‘Brochure’

Cook set up as a bookseller and printer in Leicester. He specialized in temperance literature and opened up temperance hotels in Derby and Leicester and continued to organize excursions.  In 1845, having won a reputation as an entrepreneur who could obtain cheap rates from the railway companies for large parties, he undertook his first profit-making excursion - to Liverpool, Caernarfon, and Mount Snowdon. Cook wrote a handbook which resembled in essential respects the modern tour operator's brochure.

In 1846 Cook took 500 people from Leicester on a tour of Scotland that involved visits to Glasgow and Edinburgh. One of his greatest achievements was to arrange for over 165,000 people to attend the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851. 

The First Ticketing Problems!

Cook's travel business was badly damaged in 1862 when the Scottish railway companies refused to issue any more group tickets for Cook's popular tours north of the border. Cook instead decided to take advantage of new rail links to take large numbers of tourists to the continent. In his first year he arranged for 2000 visitors to travel France and 500 to Switzerland. In 1864 Cook began taking tourists to Italy.

The First Mass-Market Backlash

Cook was charged with swamping Europe with "everything that is low-bred, vulgar and ridiculous". And others complained about the bad taste of taking tourists to the battlefields of the American Civil War.

Cook moved his business to London. His son John managed the London office of the company that was now known as Thomas Cook & Son and helped to expand the company by opening offices in Manchester, Brussels, and Cologne. In 1869 the company arranged tours of Egypt and the Holy Land, something he described as "the greatest event of my tourist life".

The First Boardroom Revolt

Thomas Cook had a difficult relationship with his son and only made him a partner in 1871. His reluctance was probably due to disputes between the two men, mainly over financial matters. Unlike Thomas, John believed that business should be kept separate from religion and philanthropy. He also upset his father by being more adventurous in investing money. He opened a hotel at Luxor and refurbished the Nile steamers of the khedive, from whom he obtained the passenger agency, thus helping to make Egypt a safer and more attractive destination.

The First Round The World Tour

By 1872 Thomas Cook & Son was able to offer a 212 day Round the World Tour for 200 guineas. The journey included a steamship across the Atlantic, a stage coach from the east to the west coast of America, a paddle steamer to Japan, and an overland journey across China and India.

Thomas continued to disagree with his son about the way the company should be run. After a serious dispute in 1878, Thomas decided to retire to Thorncroft, the large house which he had built on the outskirts of Leicester, and allow John Cook to run the business on his own.

And A Sad Ending

Cook led a lonely life after the deaths of his unmarried daughter Annie in 1880 and his wife four years later. He continued to travel, however, making his final pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1888. Much of his time and money were spent, as they had been throughout his career, in work for the Baptist church, the temperance movement, and other charities. He did not attend the firm's silver jubilee celebrations in 1891; whether this was because of blindness and physical incapacity or because  his son John did not want him there is not clear

Thomas Cook died at Knighton, Leicester, on 18th July 1892.

The BRICs or should that be the SKOCTs?

Over the past few years, the most talked-about trend in the global economy has been the so-called rise of the BRICs: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The world was witnessing a paradigm shift  in which the major players in the developing world were catching up to or even surpassing  the developed world.  But is this really the case?

These were ‘straight-line’ projections that took the developing world's high growth rates from the middle of the last decade and extended them straight into the future, setting them against sluggish growth in the US and other advanced industrial countries. These projections showed, for example, that China was on the verge of overtaking the United States as the world's largest economy (even though the U.S. economy is still more than twice as large and with a per capita income seven times as high)

However, with the world economy heading for its worst year since 2009, Chinese growth is slowing sharply, from double digits down to seven percent (even less) and the rest of the BRICs are tumbling, too - Since 2008, Brazil's annual growth has dropped from 4.5 percent to two percent; Russia's, from seven percent to 3.5 percent; and India's, from nine percent to six percent.

None of this is really surprising, because it is hard to sustain rapid growth for more than a decade but the circumstances of the last decade made it look easy - coming out of the  crisis-ridden 1990s and supported by an abundant supply of credit, the emerging markets took off and by 2007, when only three countries in the world suffered negative growth, recessions had all but disappeared from the international scene.  But now, there is a lot less foreign money flowing into emerging markets and the global economy is returning to its normal state.

EMERGING MARKETS

The notion of a convergence between the developing and the developed world is a myth - of the roughly 180 countries in the world tracked by the International Monetary Fund, only 35 are developed. The markets of the rest are emerging-and most of them have been emerging for many decades and will continue to do so for many more. As of 2011, the difference in per capita incomes between the rich and the developing nations is the same as it was in the 1950s.

BRICs (or should that be BICS or VIPs)

Other than being the largest economies in their respective regions, the big four emerging markets have little in common. They generate growth in different and often competing ways-Brazil and Russia, for example, are major energy producers that benefit from high energy prices, whereas India, as a major energy consumer, suffers from them. Except in highly unusual circumstances (such as those of the last decade) they are unlikely to grow in unison. They have limited trade ties with one another, and they have few political or foreign policy interests in common.

Russia remains a member of the BRICs only because the term sounds better with an R. In recent years, Russia's economy and stock market have been among the weakest of the emerging markets, dominated by an oil-rich class of billionaires whose assets equal 20 percent of GDP

In fact, the longest period over which one can find clear patterns in the global economic cycle is around a decade. The typical business cycle lasts about five years, from the bottom of one downturn to the bottom of the next, and most practical investors limit their perspectives to one or two business cycles. Beyond that, forecasts are often rendered obsolete by the unanticipated appearance of new competitors, new political environments, or new technologies.

THE NEW ECONOMIC ORDER

In the next ten years, the United States, Europe, and Japan are likely to grow slowly as will China as the economy matures. As growth slows in China and in the advanced industrial world, these countries will buy less from their export-driven counterparts, such as Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, and Taiwan.

The economic role models of recent times will give way to new models as growth occurs elsewhere. In the past, Asian states tended to look to Japan as a model, nations from the Balkans looked to the European Union, and nearly all countries to some extent looked to the United States. But the crisis of 2008 has undermined the credibility of all these role models. Tokyo's recent mistakes have made South Korea, which is still rising as a manufacturing powerhouse, a much more appealing Asian model than Japan. Countries that once were eager to enter the eurozone, such as the Czech Republic, Poland, and Turkey, now wonder if they want to join a club with so many members on the verge of bankruptcy. And the US call for poor countries to restrain their spending and liberalize their economies is difficult to accept when  Washington can't agree to cut its own huge deficit.

Among countries with per capita incomes in the $20,000 to $25,000 range, only two have a good chance of matching or exceeding 3% growth over the next decade: the Czech Republic and South Korea. Among the large group with average incomes in the $10,000 to $15,000 range, only one country -- Turkey -- has a good shot at matching or exceeding four to five percent growth and  in the $5,000 to $10,000 income class, Thailand seems to be the only country with a real shot at outperforming significantly.

To the extent that there will be a new crop of emerging-market stars in the coming years, therefore, it is likely to feature countries whose per capita incomes are under $5,000, such as Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and various contenders in East Africa.

Although the world can expect more breakout nations to emerge from the bottom income tier, at the top and the middle, the new global economic order will probably look pretty much like the old one . 

BBC 2012 Olympic Trail

For those that missed the amazing title sequence and marketing trail for the BBC 2012 Olympics - here it is!

The animation will be used for each Olympic event, as well as being used for marketing purposes. At just over a minute long, the sequence sees athletes running through terraced streets; cyclists tackling the Scottish highlands and gymnasts somersaulting along the London bridge.

The animation was created by design agency RKCR/Y&R, who describe themselves as 'the UK's most creative agency'. 

The production was handled by Passion Pictures and Red Bee Media, with Passion Pictures also taking care of the animation. Director Pete Candeland has also worked with the likes of Coca Cola and the Gorillaz. 

A full two-minute, forty second version will be aired on BBC One on July 3rd. Sixty, Forty, Thirty and Five second versions of the titles will be used throughout the games coverage.

I would love to know how much it cost!   Any ideas?

Chinese Tourists - fast, cheap and and lots of them!

China is expected to become the world’s biggest exporter of tourists for the first time this year, with about 78 million Chinese expected to travel abroad in 2012, according to the World Tourism Organization. (In comparison, 64 million US tourists made trips abroad in 2010). 

The travel industry is keeping apace as best it can as hotels hire Mandarin speakers and countries invest millions in PR campaigns aimed at raising their profile in China.

Most of China’s outbound tourists travel as part of a tour group, in order to save money and tend to be older, with members of sightseeing groups having an average age of 39, according to research by Australia’s Tourism Board.

Reducing costs also means packing as much sightseeing as possible into a short period it’s not unusual to combine Scandinavia, Belgium and France in a single five day trip for example.

Places with a connection to Chinese history are proving especially popular with China’s outbound tourists. Karl Marx’s German birthplace, Trier, has seen an influx of Chinese visitors in recent years. In Japan, the search for Chinese culture draws tourists Kyoto, where visitors can chart the influence of classical Chinese architecture on the ancient capital.

While Chinese tourists may save on food and hotels, they show less restraint when it comes to shopping as it is customary to return with gifts for family and friends who expect to receive brand-name electronics, clothing and cosmetics, (which are often cheaper abroad due to Chinese import taxes). Chinese tourists set aside over a third of their vacation budget for shopping, according to a 2008 study by the European Travel Commission.

Chinese tourist spending has been a boost to Japan’s ailing economy. Japan attracted over a million Chinese tourists last year, around twice the number of US visitors to the country, and Chinese visitors to Japan spend more than twice as much as British or US tourists, according to the Japan Tourism Agency.  The country’s tourism ministry hopes to boost the number of Chinese visitors to 6 million by 2020, and has already relaxed visa restrictions for Chinese travellers.

G20 recognises Travel & Tourism but must try harder

So, the G20 world leaders have finally recognized the importance of travel and tourism as a driver of jobs, growth, and economic recovery.  Considering the industry will contribute around US$2 trillion in GDP and 100 million jobs to the global economy in 2012, its about time. 

When the wider economic impacts of the industry are taken into account, travel and tourism is forecast to contribute some US$6.5 trillion to the global economy and generate 260 million jobs – or 1 in 12 of all jobs on the planet!

The G20 Declaration states: "we recognize the role of travel and tourism as a vehicle for job creation, economic growth, and development, and, while recognizing the sovereign right of States to control the entry of foreign nationals, we will work towards developing travel facilitation initiatives in support of job creation, quality work, poverty reduction, and global growth.”

Meaning what, exactly?

The G20 could boost  international tourist numbers by an additional 122 million, generate an extra US$206 billion in tourism exports and create over 5 million additional jobs by 2015 just by improving visa processes and entry formalities. 

Of the 656 million international tourists who visited G20 countries in 2011, an estimated 110 million needed a visa, many of whom were deterred from traveling by the cost, waiting time, and difficulty of obtaining a visa. Facilitating visas for these tourists, many from some of the world’s fastest-growing source markets such as the BRICs, could stimulate demand, spending, and ultimately create millions of new jobs in the G20 economies.

The issue of visas has been debated for many years, the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) have conducted research that show that the Schengen area alone is missing out on close to €500m in tourism revenue due to inefficiency. In a case study 21 per cent of Indians applying for Schengen visas gave up because of delays, while the figure was even higher for the UK at 26 per cent.

On a day that the Government announces that it is scrapping GCSEs and re-introducing more 'rigorous' O-Levels back into schools - their report is 'must try harder'.

Tourism Outlooks for 2011

Despite a return to growth in 2010 there is a case for caution in looking at global travel expectations in the coming year. This is a time for measured analysis and focused response. The 2008/9 global financial crisis fundamentally changed the economic and consumer landscape.

The post-recession market and consumer are different and smart destinations will have to pro-actively find new offerings for new consumers in new markets, and adopt new ways of communicating with those value-conscious consumers. In doing so, they should take advantage of unique national selling points and a limited number of international collaborative opportunities.

The global economy, which is the main driver of travel and tourism, is slowly regaining momentum. But the recovery is fragile and uneven, and markets are shifting. At 6% economic growth, China, India and other emerging markets are expected to recover faster than traditional source markets. The European Union’s working population is declining, as is Japan’s. Yet, despite the strong growth prospects, emerging economies, particularly in Asia, face new inflation tendencies as well as potentially disruptive currency and trade pressures. Industrialized countries in North America and Europe, which account for more than 75% of global GDP, are expected to grow their economies at some 3%. And here unemployment has reached unacceptably high levels; responses to budget austerity and country bail outs in Europe threaten dramatic disruption in economic and particularly social stability; political gridlock in the US makes decisive national intervention more difficult, and hence significant G20 economic adjustment is becoming more complex.

In addition, geopolitical tensions in key hotspots are volatile and natural disasters and/or extreme weather events remain a constant uncertainty, with only negative impact potential (the 2010 Ash Cloud and the disruption caused by snow and ice storms to air travel on both sides of the Atlantic in December 2010 representing prime examples).These underlying conditions will affect travel and tourism in ways that increase the challenges but also open new opportunities. Industry prospects for 2011 should be viewed in this broad context.

On the negative side of the balance sheet, it is important to put 2010’s growth into a valid context of the previous steep declines. We are now back to 2008 performance levels. Moreover, the full return of business and consumer confidence will be slower than expected. Most consumers are still rattled after the financial crisis and household budgets have not yet recovered to the extent required. In hard times companies will continue to look to tight travel controls and with high unemployment it is easy to rationalize putting off a vacation, staying closer to home or trading down in price or length of stay. And revenue generation will remain tough. This was already the case in 2010 where yields grew everywhere at a slower pace than arrivals.There is no basis for expecting this to change in 2011.

Airlift is an important enabler of tourism. Despite travel demand being pretty robust, consumer confidence in the aviation sector has not recovered in the same way as business confidence. Analysts expect headwinds in leisure travel to continue for up to another three years, especially from Europe, and a mid-cycle market slowdown in passenger numbers has also been forecast for 2011. Global exchange rate volatility, oil prices and fuel hedging costs affect airline profits and tourist volumes alike. Although jet fuel prices are still significantly below the 2008 peak, they are rising steadily.There are also significant cost increases looming on the horizon – unilateral travel taxes, which have begun to spiral in Europe, are likely to become a bigger issue as governments scramble for fast revenue to plug budget gaps and as carbon pricing spreads. In addition, there are strong pressures on fuel prices and security costs which are increasingly important elements for the entire travel and tourism value chain, not just the pivotally important transport sector. Global security concerns continue to trigger cumbersome visa requirements and intrusive airport security systems, which in turn affect the quality of the traveller’s experience.

The positive side of the balance sheet is the changing recognition of the role of Travel and Tourism in key strategic economic areas. It is increasingly seen as part of the solution and a key sector to help the world avoid a jobless recovery. This is recognized, politically, by the T20 Tourism Ministers platform inaugurated by South African Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk in 2010, the World Economic Forum, UNWTO, WTTC, OECD, UNEP and various regional bodies and national governments.

The value of investment in travel infrastructure - the modernized airports, high speed trains and superhighways that were at the heart of many stimulus packages - have already created new jobs in construction, design and engineering and will enhance the long term growth and quality of our products. Similarly the intensifying competition to host mega-events is another sign of the same value add, as well as the massive global nation branding, infrastructure development and travel export promotion that comes with it.
The realisation of the value in trade terms of the booming outbound traffic flows from emerging markets in Asia, where China is on course to become the largest domestic, inbound and outbound travel market in the world during the next decade, as well as the strong tourism flows from Eastern Europe and Russia, and the market of one billion consumers in Africa, is at the heart of response to globally shifting markets. This does not render the traditional markets insignificant, and income per capita in these markets will still overshadow those in the emerging markets for some time. However, pre-financial crisis market segmentation and the indicated product diversification need to be continually reviewed. A risk management approach with domestic tourism as the mainstay of sustainability is required to hedge against currency volatility, external economic shocks, disasters and terrorism. So too the increased domestic and regional travel has demonstrated how our sector primes local economic development, supports small and medium enterprises and encourages consumer confidence, irrespective of the major long haul traffic flows.
We have also begun to establish our place in the green growth agenda, by the growing commitment of travel and tourism companies and communities to carbon neutral operations in line with the evolving climate change mitigation and poverty reduction imperatives. Policymakers and financiers are increasingly understanding that travel and tourism - including air transport - can deliver on any package of carbon reduction measures that governments are able and willing to implement themselves. In far less than a decade, a low-carbon value chain for the tourism sector in all its dimensions will be an important driver of competitiveness. Industry is already repositioning as Governments across the world start to put in place a tighter regulatory framework and introduce economic instruments that price carbon.

There are many micro ways to strengthen the Travel & Tourism balance sheet in 2011 and beyond, including focused marketing, creative product streams, new media and technology integration. These will mostly be played out at the national level where the fight for the new tourist flows from emerging markets will intensify, the competition to host mega events will hot up and the focus on national and regional promotion programs will deepen.
We are entering the age of the so-called ‘digital natives’ with technology increasingly replacing the traditional travel agent as the channel between consumers and travel offerings. In future, technology and e-marketing will increasingly drive the choice of destinations, the tailoring of holidays rather than the packaging of holidays, and new ways of booking and paying for travel. Consumers will also expect technologies to “take the hassle out of travel”, inter alia through online visa applications (e-visas), mobile maps, meta-search engines, blogs and podcasts.

Besides being more price conscious, the new consumer is also seeking more authentic product offerings. Significance in travel experiences are being redefined by consumers. The demand for mass-based leisure tourism is being replaced by a desire to connect emotionally with destinations, local people and local cultures. The customization of authentic cultural and nature-based experiences becomes critically important. New technology could help to facilitate this shift from generic product offerings to platforms where tourists tailor-make their desired experiences.

There are two areas where we need to develop collective and coherent positions as a sector in the short term.

Firstly, we must respond to the potential plethora of discriminatory travel taxes, where the UK APD has set a dangerous precedent that was touted as a fair green tax but is in fact an unfair, anti-trade tax on exports and imports. We should make this a collective public policy issue, establish a game plan for non-discriminatory fair travel taxes and demand that all monies collected by any government for so called green taxes be earmarked and used for those purposes with full involvement of the sector’s stakeholders. Clearly, these new trade barriers hit developing countries the hardest. Ironically, developing countries are taxed on precisely the service exports that give them a comparative advantage. These taxes also render the tourism sectors in the countries imposing them less competitive and impact on bottom lines in the airline industry.

Of particular concern is the absence of a multilaterally agreed regime for managing international aviation emissions. Aviation emissions were excluded from the Kyoto Protocol and to date there has been very little progress towards agreeing a global regime for aviation emissions in a post-2012 climate regime under ICAO or the UNFCCC. Rather, the landscape is now characterized by a patchwork of unilateral and minilateral policies and measures aimed at pricing aviation emissions. One cannot escape the impression that many of these national/regional initiatives are designed in a way that prioritises fiscal objectives over environmental effectiveness – while presenting the opposite position.

The UN Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Finance’s (AGF) report on sources of climate funding published in November 2010 has provided some new momentum to efforts to frame a global solution. The report covers potential sources of funding to meet the political commitment in Copenhagen to raise US$100 billion annually by 2020 for financing climate change mitigation and adaptation. The AGF estimates that some US$10 billion annually by 2020 could be raised from pricing emissions of international transportation, i.e. aviation and shipping, on the understanding that there will be “no net incidence on developing countries” and “between 25 and 50 per cent of total revenues” will be earmarked for climate funding. Besides the broader question on the architecture of the global climate change regime after 2012, key questions as this concept evolves include: could it become a single multilateral source of revenue raised from travel, thereby replacing the patchwork of opportunistic taxes levied on non-voting consumers; how will it fit into a broader global climate change regime that covers all economic sectors; how could the revenue be recycled to support green growth in travel and tourism; and what are the cost-benefit trade-offs from a broader welfare and socio-economic development perspective? The industry must The industry must seek rational and reasonable answers before the framework becomes embedded in policy and law.

Secondly, strategically, we should solidify our recognized role as the major job creation industry in the world, at a time when unemployment will dominate media headlines and political decision-making. Social inclusion and decent work are key elements. And in the related area of incentives for green growth, climate response and poverty reduction we should firmly establish our credentials as the catalytic sector for building climate resilient tourism infrastructure, adapting to unavoidable climate change, and decarbonising our economies – whilst at the same time building new opportunities for small entrepreneurs and community development. These are areas where the potential contribution of Travel and Tourism equals or exceeds any other area of the economy as an agent of change.

In conclusion, it is up to each destination to develop and leverage its existing platform, to reinforce its brand and competitive positioning, and to create the best possible strategic fit between where they are going and where the future is going. In doing so, they have to put consumers first in a sustainable way, and facilitate greater alignment across government and industry. And they have to get the message across that travel and tourism is an important driver of inclusive/shared economic growth, rapid job creation, service exports, happiness/well-being of individuals and communities, and social development, and, as such, that there is massive social good embedded in the sustainable development of the sector.

84-year old set to cross Atlantic on a raft

84-year old British adventurer Anthony Smith has big plans for 2011. In January of next year, he and three other men, will attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean aboard a raft made out of plastic gas pipes. Setting out from the Canary islands, they'll cover more than 2800 miles, in 60 days, finishing up in the Bahamas sometime in March. If successful, it'll be the culmination of a dream that Smith has waited nearly 60 years to see realized.

The former RAF pilot has led quite a life of adventure. Back in 1963 he became the first Briton to cross the Alps in a hot air balloon and he has explored east Africa by balloon as well. He is also an accomplished filmmaker and the author of more than 30 books. The ocean crossing has been his goal for most of his life however, and five years ago he took a big step towards making it a reality when he took out an advertisement in the Daily Telegraph that read: "Fancy rafting across the Atlantic? Famous traveller requires 3 crew. Must be OAP. Serious adventurers only."

From that advertisement, Smith found his crew, and he'll now be joined on the voyage by 57-year old yachtsman David Hildred, 61-year old hot air balloonist Robin Batchelor, and Andy Bainbridge, who at 56, is the young man of the group. Bainbridge is an experienced sailor and long time friend of Smith.

The raft is being built out of 13-yard sections of pipe that will have both ends sealed, trapping the air inside and making the craft buoyant. There will also be two small shelters, built from pig huts, that will provide the crew a respite from the elements, and a small fence will line the outside of the boat to prevent them from falling overboard. The simple boat has been dubbed the An-Tiki, a nod to Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki, and will have an "elderly crossing" sign on the sail.

Smith and his team hope to take advantage of the strong trade winds that arrive in January so that they can avoid the Atlantic storm season and finish the voyage on schedule.

We see that the European Union unveiled plans on Wednesday to attract more visitors from the likes of China and Russia, hoping tourism can help the region bounce back from the economic crisis.

The European commissioner responsible for tourism said better use of technology would be critical in attracting more tourists, with plans for a Europe travel website in Chinese and other ideas in the works for Russia, Japan, India and Brazil.

Travel to and within Europe, which includes several of the world's top tourism destinations, has taken a big hit since the global financial crisis erupted in 2008, and was further dented this year by the volcanic ash cloud in April and May.

The number of tourists visiting Europe dropped by 5.6 percent in 2009 from 2008, according to the World Tourism Organisation, with the total value of tourism receipts falling by a more substantial 8 percent to 295.7 billion euros ($362 billion).

That's a trend the EU desperately wants to turn around.

"The European Commission wants to be the trailblazer working to breathe new life into this vital sector," EU commissioner Antonio Tajani told reporters. "It needs to recover from the economic and financial crisis it has been so hard-struck by in the last few months."

The aim is to stimulate more tourism within Europe, by encouraging more young and old people -- those who have more time on their hands -- to travel, while also drawing in more visitors from rapidly developing countries.

With the euro single currency, which is shared by 16 EU countries, having lost more than 10 percent of its value against the dollar this year, the likes of France, Spain and Italy are now relatively cheaper for foreigners to visit.

Quoting the Roman theologian Saint Augustine, Tajani said it was everyone's duty to see as much of the world as possible.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page," he said.

One idea being discussed to encourage more young people to travel is to make it possible to book train, plane and hotel tickets via mobile phones. The broader idea is to use technology better and more frequently to promote travel and tourism.

For Europeans aged 65 and over, who are expected to make up 20 percent of the region's 500 million people by 2020, the EU proposals recommend targeted marketing and measures to make tourist sites accessible to those with reduced mobility.

The initiative will not be limited to attracting more visitors to the favourite destinations such as France, Spain, Britain and Italy, Tajani promised, saying it should be targeted at all 27 EU member states.

Tourism accounts for 9.7 million jobs in the EU, employing 5.2 percent of the workforce, according to EU estimates.

WTTC Tourism For Tomorrow Awards

Winners have been announced for the World Travel & Tourism Council’s 2010 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards. Of the 12 finalists, Emirates Hotels & Resorts, Whale Watch Kaikoura, Accor, and Botswana Tourism Board, were crowned the winners for their successful work in advancing sustainable tourism best practices in different parts of the world:-

WHALE WATCH KAIKOURA, NEW ZEALAND

Indigenous Maori-owned and locally operated, Whale Watch Kaikoura wins the Community Benefit Award for its outstanding achievement in rebuilding the local economy through community-based tourism in Kaikoura on the East Coast of South Island in New Zealand. Whale Watch Kaikoura specializes in giving more than 100,000 visitors annually the opportunity for up-close observation of marine life, including rare Sperm Whales, using environmentally-friendly vessels. The company was founded in 1987 by local Maori, to create jobs for the indigenous Ngati Kuri community, and has since grown into a multi-million dollar nature tourism business.

EMIRATES HOTELS RESORTS, UAE

In the Conservation category, Emirates Hotels & Resorts is awarded for its success in creating the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (DDCR) – the first protected area in the United Arab Emirates – through the establishment of the Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa. In Australia, their Wolgan Valley Resort next to the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is one of the best examples in the world of conservation through tourism. The project is successfully reversing extensive grazing and development damage to restore rare native flora and fauna.

BOTSWANA TOURISM BOARD

Botswana Tourism Board is awarded the Destination Stewardship Award for its "low-volume - high-yield" approach to tourism in the Okavango Delta – an internationally-recognized Ramsar Site (ODRS) and particularly for the legislative framework put in place and ecotourism standards to ensure proper management of one of the world's most iconic nature travel destinations. Today, sustainable tourism in the Okavango employs 34 percent of the adult population in the area, while protecting the largest inland wetland in the world for future generations.

ACCOR, FRANCE GLOBAL

Accor wins the award for Global Tourism Business for its Earth Guest Program and company-wide philosophy based on hospitality, respect for diverse cultures, environmental best practices, and the social welfare of local people where they operate in more than 100 countries.

Tourism for Tomorrow

The World Traveland Tourism Council is looking for finalists for their 'The Tourism for Tomorrow' awards, aimed at recognizing best practice in sustainable tourism within the travel and tourism industry worldwide. Given the concern about natural and cultural resources, the awards provide the WTTC with the opportunity of promoting and partnering with the industry leaders in responsible tourism, highlighting the prime examples of best practice.

The awards are determined in 4 categories:

DESTINATION STEWARDSHIP AWARD:

This award goes to a destination – country, region, state, or town – which comprises a network of tourism enterprises and organizations that show dedication to, and success in, maintaining a program of sustainable tourism management at the destination level, incorporating social, cultural, environmental, and economic aspects, as well as multi-stakeholder engagement.

CONSERVATION AWARD:

Open to any tourism business, organization, or attraction, including lodges, hotels, or tour operators, able to demonstrate that their tourism development and operations have made a tangible contribution to the conservation of natural heritage.

COMMUNITY BENEFIT AWARD:

This award is for a tourism initiative that has effectively demonstrated direct benefits to local people, including capacity building, the transfer of industry skills, and support for community development.

GLOBAL TOURISM BUSINESS AWARD:

Open to any large company from any sector of travel and tourism – cruise lines, hotel groups, airlines, tour operators, etc. – with at least 200 full-time employees and operating in more than one country or in more than one destination in a single country, this award recognizes best practices in sustainable tourism at a large company level.

An independent panel of judges, including some of the world's most authoritative experts of sustainable development (and a stringent application process involving on-site verification visits by these experts) has earned the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards growing levels of respect among key audiences - the industry, governments, and the international media.

The winners and finalists are honored at a special ceremony during the Global Travel & Tourism Summit held from May 25-27, 2010 in Beijing, China.

For more information about the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards and how to apply check out the website: www.tourismfortomorrow.com